


Just Stay

by HereForSnacks



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6697822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereForSnacks/pseuds/HereForSnacks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco's memory gets replaced by those of the old timeline. However this drastically changes his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Stay

"Oh god, what happened?" Cisco awoke to a hospital room. Caitlin and Barry where hovering over him. He propped himself up on his forearms to get a better scope of the room.

"The shelf in my lab fell on you, we were talking about how to make Barry faster. Do you remember?" 

"You've been asleep for about 72 hours." Cisco groaned and flopped onto his pillow. It was in that moment that Hartley came rushing in.

"Cisquito you're awake! Oh this is fantastic!" His voice was filled with glee and relief.

"What! Why is he here? Didn't he disappear!" Cisco exclaimed. Caitlin and Hartley adopted looks of confusion. 

"What do you mean? Of course I'd be here to support and help you. Why wouldn't I be?" Hartley was confused and hurt by the thought that Cisco didn’t trust him to take care of him. 

“Wait, what was the last thing that you remember Hartley doing?” Barry asked.

“He escaped after he gave us info about Firestorm.” Cisco said in a ‘duh’ voice. Caitlin and Hartley looked even more confused. 

“Cisco, you have memories from the old timeline. You probably vibed them while you were out. Your memories must have gotten messed up.” Barry explained.

“Wait does that mean you think I'm evil?" 

"Yeah, and I also think you're a horrible person, but that's nothing new."

Hartley let out a stressed noise. His voiced matched his face, heartbroken. From Cisco's spot in the bed he could see the tears welling up in Hartley's eyes. He tried to put his hand on Cisco's but Cisco jerked his hand back. Hartley let out a sob and fled the room. Barry gave Cisco a look and left the room in search for Hartley. Caitlin sat in the chair next to Cisco. 

"What just happened?” 

"Well, when Hartley came back to us he tried really hard to redeem himself. When he finally got himself to a better mental state he was nicer to us. Now he's really open and kind to everyone. He's even starting to repair his relationship with his parents. But the person he tried most of all with us you. He worked on getting you to trust him for months. You too got really close. I think he is closer to you than he is to anyone else. So I think you can understand why he was so upset."

"Does Barry remember everything about the old timeline?" 

"He does. But please, give Hartley a chance. He really has changed."

"Alright I'll try, for you. Now can I nap?"

 

\---

After Cisco was released from the hospital he stayed in his apartment for three days. Team Flash came by everyday to visit, either alone or in pairs. But everyone, Team Flash extended family included, came over for dinners. They'd sit around on the couch or on floor around the tv watching cheesey movies. 

The last night Cisco was confined to his house was no different. Except this time when the movie was over and one by one they left, Hartley was the only remaining guest. Cisco awkwardly coughed as Hartley moved closer. 

"Do you remember the plans we made? Do you remember what we promised each other? Do you remember me, the real me, at all? Has anything, any little shred of memory, come back to you?" Hartley was nearing Cisco. His eyes where full of pain, sadness, and tears, his voice full of desperation. Hartley was almost upon Cisco when Cisco retreaded from where he stood. There was so much emotion coming from Hartley. His very presence screamed anguish and Cisco couldn't bear to see the cold, asshole of a man and ex-colleague have so much emotion.

"No! I don't remember anything!" Cisco yelled. "What 'plans'? Why are you so desperate for me to remember?" 

Hartley flinched back violently like someone slapped him across the face. "I'm sorry. That was out of line of me. I should have gotten so worked up. It was stupid of me. So stupid. I shouldn't have hoped for some drastic change in mere days." Hartley's shoulder's slumped and he curled in on himself. He looked like a broken man, he sounded like one too. His voice trembled as he spoke, cracking occasionally. The more he spoke the more he retreated towards the exit. "I hope you can forgive me and that I can regain your trust. I hope you'll be back in the labs tomorrow. Don't push yourself to hard, we don't need you to pass out on us again. Though, you many not remember that. Don't worry about what I've said. It was stupid, please, forget about it." He reached the door and his voice trembled as he stood in the door frame. "I'm sorry." He sobbed and fled the apartment, and the life it would have held for him if it wasn't for that damn shelf.

 

\---

The next day Cisco rejoined the gang at Star Labs. He noticed that Hartley had been gone from what looked like his desk. Cisco began to start on a new project he was thinking about when he was under house arrest. 

After lunch Cisco got up to join his friends in the cortex. He reached to grab a lollypop from the jar on his desk but as he touched them he vibed.

It was of him and Hartley. They were at Cisco's desk and they were working on fixing his vibing goggles. When they finished they smiled at each other. They held each other's gaze for a long time until they got blasted out of their trance. They made witty banter, that sounded similar to how they used to argue but it was different. It was more high spirited, not as mean. Cisco watched himself watch Hartley saunter out the room. He watched as past him got up, plucked a green lollypop from his jar and place it on Hartley's desk. 

Coming out the vibe felt normal, like he was resurfacing after loosing all of his breath underwater. However, this time it felt more relieving. He got a weird feeling during the vibe. Like there was something different in the atmosphere of their encounters. A feeling he couldn’t put his finger on. It felt familiar but he has no memories of it. 

Cisco walked in to the cortex, Hartley still wasn’t there. “Do any of you know the significance behind lollypops? Is that like a thing?” They apparently did not know what it meant. Cisco went silent, he sat down if front of a monitor and started working. His brow furrowed as he tried to decrypt his vision. 

Later that week Cisco still hadn't seen Hartley. But, as Cisco was entering the lab on Thursday Hartley was leaving. He contemplated asking Hartley what it meant before they passed each other, but before he could come to a decision Hartley lowered his head and quickened his pace. Hartley brushed past Cisco without making a peep. This action seemed out of the norm for Hartley. He didn't say some snide comment or give a rude glance to Cisco, nor did he act friendly and nice, which was what Caitlin said Hartley acted like now. Instead he acted... depressed. 

He decided to brush the thought away and meet up with Barry and Cait for their daily meeting. 

 

\---

The next time Cisco vibed about Hartley it was while Cisco was checking up on Hartley's rats. Hartley was away for the weekend and asked Cisco if he could refill their food and water once a day. While placing the food bowl down in the cage he brushed against one of the rats. 

From that small contact with the rat, he vibed. It was of him and Hartley, again. They were setting up the cage. 

As they built the cage together, adding in a feeding bowl, water bottle, a little 'house' for the rats. They were laughing and having fun as they did so. They would exchange jokes and laughs as they worked. The feeling around them felt warm and nice. Cisco looked on at himself and Hartley. They looked like they were genuinely enjoying each other's company. When the pair had finished they sat on the floor in front of the cage and looked at each other. There was something building in the air around them. 

Memory Cisco turned back to look at the rats scampering about. "They're kinda like our children." His face turned bright red. "I mean not that I'm assuming you want to raise kids with me." He turned to look at Hartley who was looking back at him with an amused smirk. 

"It's fine, I was thinking something similar." Hartley and memory Cisco's eyes locked. The tension between them grew the longer they looked at each other. 

"Cisco! Hartley! We need you in here!" Barry yelled off in the distance. Memory Cisco blushed again and hastily got up and spoke quickly, "We should probably go do... That. Yeah um, let's go." Hartley chuckled and followed Cisco. 

As actual Cisco stopped vibing he came to a realization. He finally understood what Cailtin said when she said that they were close. That was some real friendship he just witnessed. If he still disliked Hartley he wouldn't have helped him with the rats. It gave him faith in what Caitlin said.

 

\---

A few days later Cisco found Hartley is the cortex. To his surprise he was wearing a Ravenclaw shirt. "Wow! I never thought the day would come were you are wearing a nerdy T-shirt!" 

Hartley looked at Cisco in confusion and then sadness. "Well um, you bought this shirt with me." 

"Oh." Cisco reached out to hesitantly put his hand on Hartley's shoulder. "Well, at least I've started to remem-" Of course there was a memory attached to the shirt.

To his surprise the memory was not of them buying the shirt. It was before that. It was before they were even friends. 

Cisco had entered the Cortex wearing a Gryffindor shirt. Hartley glanced up at him and scoffed. Cisco rolled his eyes.

"Why do you have such a problem with me wearing graphic shirts to work?" Cisco said exasperatedly.

"It's not that, it's just, you are so not a Gryffindor."

"Oh? What house are you in!"

"Me? I'm a Ravenclaw, obviously."

"I think you're a Slytherin."

"Why? Because you don't like me? If I was so ambition driven I wouldn't still be working here." Cisco thought on that for a few seconds before silently agreeing.

"Well, what am I?"

"You are a Hufflepuff." Cisco had an offended look on his face.

"Do you think I'm not smart enough to be a Ravenclaw!"

"No you are. But like Hermione another aspect of you is more prominent, your loyalty." Actually thinking about it Cisco felt like he could fit in with the Hufflepuffs, and he didn't mind being compared to Hermione, so he accepted the new descriptor.

Coming out of the vibe his hand was still on Hartley's shoulder and the other man was looking at him intently. 

"What happened? What did you vibe about?"

"You were telling me I was a Hufflepuff." 

"Yeah, I remember that. After that we would have really long conversations sorting friends and villains into different houses. It was fun." Cisco smiled at Hartley. 

"We should watch some of the movies together." Cisco offered. He did want to try and get along with Hartley. Why not appeal to his nerdy side. Hartley beamed at Cisco.

"Yes. I would enjoy that very much!"

"Alright why don't you come over after work Friday?"

"That sounds excellent! Well, I better get back to work. I will see you later." Hartley left the room but did not head in the direction of his office but to Caitlin's instead. Cisco thought that this was a bit weird but he shrugged it off.

 

\---

When Hartley arrived at his apartment on Friday it started off a bit awkward. They decided to watch the seventh movie. As the movie got started the awkward tension that hung in the air seemed to dissipate. 

Half way through the movie Cisco found Hartley staring at him. Cisco found that the look wasn’t angry or confused, just wistful. 

Cisco looked at Hartley and Hartley looked back at him surprised that he had been caught. Hartley looked down embarrassed.

"Why were you so mean to me when we first met?" Cisco asked in a soft voice. Hartley sighed and Hartley looked up at him.

"Well it's a long story." 

"I've got time."

"So when you where hired it was a few weeks after my parents disowned me. I originally thought it was Wells' way of telling me I wasn't good enough. I thought that you were a threat to my job because you were just out of college, a kid genius, and unafraid to take risks. At that time I was also Wells' 'favorite'. I didn't want to put that at risks. I refused to believe that you could actually be better than me. And when you ran into the walls I had created to protect myself I decided that nothing was wrong. When I worked with you and you kept proving to me that you were so smart and nice I knew that I wasn't going to be able to pretend that everything was alright. So I set up more walls. I had been hurt so many times before that, by so many different people, that I didn't want to give you the chance to do that. My parents, my old friends, some boyfriends, Wells later on. I didn't want the list to grow. I am so, so sorry." When Hartley was talking he was looking down at his hands. For the whole speech Cisco was looking directly at Hartley, in case he looked up.

"Hart, I'm sorry you had to go through that. I’m glad you told me.” Cisco put his hand on Hartley’s knee. Hartley looked up, into Cisco’s eyes. They both became captivated by each others eyes. Cisco was taken by Hartley’s deep green eyes, they were hidden behind his glasses but they still reflected the soft soul that belonged to Hartley. Hartley thought Cisco’s eyes where like a new penny, they glistened in the light from the TV. His black hair framed his face and brightened the color of his eyes. Cisco’s hand was gently resting on Hart’s knee. They could’ve sat like that, just looking into each others eyes, forever. But the movie made a loud noise and they both jumped in their seats. Their eyes breaking contact by turning to look at the TV.

They started paying more attention to the movie again. Hartley was facing the TV but not really watching just trying not to look at Cisco. Cisco was slouched next to Hartley, leaning on him a bit. Occasionally Cisco would look up at him. Before the movie had ended both had fallen asleep on each other. 

 

\---

In the morning it had been a bit awkward waking up to find Hartley draped across Cisco and Cisco holding onto Hartley. Hartley had left promptly after waking up, even though Cisco had offered him breakfast.

Cisco had entered his bedroom and started to change in order to get ready for the day. Cisco picked up his ‘Keep Calm and Han Shot First’ shirt. He went into vibe mode after picking it up. 

His vibe started with the first time he met Hartley. He watched Hartley watch him. There was no sound during this, just Hartley. It switched to Cisco and Hartley working on the cage together, he was wearing the shirt. After that it flashed an image of the shelf falling on Cisco and to Caitlin leaning over him telling him how close he was to Hartley, and again, he was in the same shirt. The next thing that happened was a shock to Cisco. 

In this one he was wearing the shirt, however it was very different from the previous clips. He and Hartley were kissing it was short and awkward. They pulled away and rested their heads together. “When did you start to like me?” Cisco asked Hart. Hartley thought about it for a second or two. 

“Since I met you. When you walked into EvilWells’ office trying to look professional in a blazer but you were wearing that dumb shirt. But you’re face was so beautiful and pure. You looked like a puppy. I new then that I was screwed because I fell in love so fast. And I acted so horribly to you because I hoped that would help me fall out of love and I was so scared of getting hurt again.” Memory Cisco searched his eyes and help his face. He started to kiss Hartley again, slow and deep. When they broke the kiss to breathe Cisco smiled sweetly at Hart. Hart grinned back. “When did you start to like me?” He asked back.

“I don’t know one day about a month ago I just realized it.” 

Thats where the vibe ended. 

Cisco stood in his spot for a second before his brain could work again. He slowly started to make sense of what he just did. Once he finally got his thoughts in order he started to run. He ran out of his apartment and the building. He didn’t stop running until he got to Hartley’s apartment. It was seven blocks away. He knocked on the door and prayed that Hartley was home. He was.

As soon as the door opened Cisco pounced on Hartley. Cisco took Harts lips and kissed him. As they backed away from the door and towards the wall of his apartment Cisco swung the door closed with foot. Cisco cornered Hart against the wall. Hartley was like putty in his hands. When they stopped kissing was only when he was nearly lightheaded.

Cisco rested his forehead on Hartley's. "I know when I fell in love with you know. It was when we were building the rats' cage. It was one of the first times we got along really well. Seeing you laugh at my jokes." Hartley looked hopeful. 

"Do you remember? Everything?" 

"Im starting to. Little by little." Cisco smiled his lovely loving smile and Hartley grinned back. 

"Well I can't wait for you to remember everything!"

"You know, I'm starting to like this timeline."

 

\---

Cisco had come up from the car with the last box in hand when he found Hartley lying on the ground. Cisco put the box down next to the others and approached his boyfriends body. Cisco laid down next to him and wrapped his arms around Hart's waist pulling him into his side. 

"My Hart, why are you on the ground?"

"Because, Cisquito, it's finally happened. We're finally living together. We had talked about doing it for forever and a few days before we actually did, you lost your memory. I have been waiting for this day for so long and it's finally happening. I needed to lie down a bit to ground myself." Cisco smiled a small smile. Hartley pecked Cisco's lips. "Ugh, we should probably unpack." Cisco's grip on Hartley tightened and he tangled his legs with Harts, pressing Hartley's body closer to his own. 

"Nah, let's just stay."

**Author's Note:**

> Please validate me.


End file.
